Waleed Aly reveals surprising obsession with video games

He's a strait-laced television presenter now, but back in the day Waleed Aly was a rebellious gamer who had strange nocturnal habits.

During last night's episode of The Project, the 40-year-old host revealed that when he was younger he would often sneak out to buy energy drinks in the middle of the night because it helped keep him alert when playing video games.

"As a kid I was massively into Mario Kart. I don't think you all know this but I was one of the best Mario Kart players in the world. I used to duck off to 7-Eleven at, like, three in the morning and go get [energy drinks]," he said during a segment discussing how social media influencers were encouraging gamers to consume energy drinks.

Aly further explained that he would stock up on the energy drink, Bolt, because it "had twice the caffeine" and helped him prep for his "first session" of the game.

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His revelation drew a gasp from co-host, Steve Price, who wondered where Aly's parents were at that time of night.

"Where were your parents when this was happening?" asked Price. "What were they doing letting you go running around the streets at three in the morning?"

Of course his parents weren't impressed with his early-morning runs, said Aly, but that didn't stop him.

"Oh, they didn't let me -- I just did it," he said.

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Aly wasn't kidding when he said he was hooked on the video game -- an addiction he appears to still have to this day. In January, he and his wife, Susan Carland, were stoked to attend a Mario Kart-themed high tea at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne. The couple even wore matching Mario Kart red caps as Carland shared Instagram Stories of their big day out.

"Happily full of sugar now," she wrote in an Instagram Story clip. "Waleed loved his Mario hat."